MEMBRANE BEHAVIOR OF EXOCYTIC VESICLES II. Fate of the Trichocyst Membranes in Paramecium after Induced Trichocyst Discharge KLAUS HAUSMANN and RICHARD D. ALLEN From the Division of Cell Biology, University of Heidelberg, D-6900 Heidelberg, West Germany, and the Pacific Biomedical Research Center and Department of Microbiology, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822 Downloaded from http://rupress.org/jcb/article-pdf/69/2/313/1387630/313.pdf by guest on 26 September 2021 ABSTRACT A specific exocytic process, the discharge of spindle trichocysts of Paramecium caudatum, was examined by means of the electron microscope. This exocytosis is induced by an electric shock simultaneously in nearly all of the trichocysts (ca. 6,000-8,000) of a single cell. Single paramecia were subjected to the shock and then fixed at defined times after the shock so that the temporal sequence of the pattern of changes of the trichocyst membranes after exocytosis could be studied. The trichocyst vacuoles fuse with the plasma membrane only for that length of time required for expulsion to take place. After exocytosis, the membrane of the vacuole does not become incorporated into the plasma membrane; rather, the collapsed vacuole is pinched off and breaks up within the cytoplasm. The membrane vesiculates into small units which can no longer be distinguished from vesicles of the same dimensions that exist normally within the cell's cytoplasm. The entire process is completed within 5-10 min. These results differ from the incorporation of mucocyst membranes into the plasma membrane as proposed for Tetrahymena. Exocytosis is the process in which cytoplasmic vacuoles fuse with the plasma membrane so that their contents can be released to the outside. This occurs in many excretory and secretory processes a b at all levels of eucaryotic life (31). During this 3-SV event, in some cell types, the vesicle membrane is incorporated into the plasma membrane. In such cases the cell must have some means of regulating its total surface area so that it can maintain a constant size or shape; otherwise continuous ex- c d ocytic activity would ultimately lead to an indefi- FIGURE 1 Method of inducing trichocyst expulsion in Paramecium caudatum. An electric shock of 3-5 V of nitely large surface area. AC current was applied along the posterior-anterior axis Examples of exocytic processes in which the (b) of a single Paramecium. The cell is in a small drop of vesicle membrane becomes incorporated into the culture medium on a microscope slide (a). Trichocyst plasma membrane are found in mammals in the expulsion can be recognized by a simultaneous strong goblet cells of the digestive and the respiratory contraction of the cell (c). After some time the cell systems (13, 33), the exocrine pancreatic cells (14, regains its normal shape (d). THE JOURNALOF CELL BIOLOGY VOLUME69, 1976 pages 313-326 313 Downloaded from http://rupress.org/jcb/article-pdf/69/2/313/1387630/313.pdf by guest on 26 September 2021 314 THE JOURNAL OF CELL BIOLOGY 9VOLUME 69, 1976 23, 27), and nerve synapses (20, 21). No explana- cells, although this has not yet been examined tion of how the goblet cell's size is regulated has quantitatively. Heuser et al. (20, 21) have recently yet been proposed; however, a membrane recycling presented a detailed membrane recycling model model has been suggested for exocrine pancreatic based on morphometric investigations to explain the maintenance of a relatively constant surface area in nerve axons even though synaptic vesicles are continually fusing with the plasma membrane. They showed that the same amount of membrane surface is taken into the cell by endocytosis as is incorporated into the plasma membrane by ex- ocytosis. In addition to this mechanism of exocytosis, after which the vesicle membrane is incorporated into the plasma membrane, a second mechanism of membrane disposition is possible. In this case the Downloaded from http://rupress.org/jcb/article-pdf/69/2/313/1387630/313.pdf by guest on 26 September 2021 vesicle membrane will fuse only temporarily with the plasma membrane during exocytosis and then immediately be pinched off probably as a flattened cisterna and transported back into the cytoplasm (27). Such a method can be verified most easily in those types of cells in which the incorporation of new membrane would disturb an existing, highly ordered pattern of the plasma membrane which has a relatively constant surface area. Ciliated protozoans furnish such an example since their pellicle, consisting of an outer plasma membrane and underlying membrane-bounded alveolar layer, is sculptured into a relatively invariable pattern and its surface area normally changes only with cell growth. In the ciliates, at least three exocytic processes are known: excretion of the contractile vacuoles (10, 25, 37), defecation of food vacuoles (5, 11, 38), FIGURE 4 The first visible step of trichocyst expul- and ejection of extrusomes (4, 12, 15, 17, 22, 26). sion is the fusion of the plasma membrane with the Excretion (10, 37) and defecation (5) proceed by trichocyst membrane. A very narrow orifice is formed the second method of exocytosis, i.e., the mem- (arrows). tt, trichocyst tip. Bar indicates 0.1 /zm. • branes of the exocytic vesicles (contractile vacuole 76,000. and defecation vacuole) are not incorporated into the plasma membrane after exocytosis. However, FIGURE 5 During expulsion the trichocyst is pressed little is known about the fate of the extrusomal through the tubular collar (tc) and at this level undergoes the well-known structural change to the 55-nm period, a, membrane after ejection of these organelles, except alveolus; bb, basal body; etb, ejected trichocyst body; Ga, for the assumption that in Tetrahymena the muco- Golgi apparatus; pro, plasma membrane; rtb, resting cyst membranes become part of the plasma mem- trichocyst body; tin, trichocyst membrane. • 33,000. brane (34, 35, 36). The purpose of this study is to FIGURE 2 A grazing section through the pellicle of Paramecium caudatum. Besides the cilia (ci) and the kinetodesmal fibers (k/), the trichocyst tips (tt) represent the main components seen at this level of section. pint, posterior microtubules; sb, striated microfibrillar band; trot, transverse microtubules. In all micro- graphs the bar indicates 1 gm unless marked differently. • 42,000. FIGURE 3 A tangential section through the cortex at a level deeper than Fig. 2. The most predominant elements are the trichocyst bodies (tb) which are surrounded by a membrane (arrow). Amongst the mature trichocysts one occasionally finds immature organelles which are characterized by a more intense stain (*). bb, basal body; ci, cilium; kf, kinetodesmal fiber; mi, mitochondrion; tt, trichocyst tip. • 21,000. KLAUS HAUSMANN AND RICHARD D. ALLEN Fale of Exocyt& Vesicle Membrane. I1 315 Downloaded from http://rupress.org/jcb/article-pdf/69/2/313/1387630/313.pdf by guest on 26 September 2021 316 THE JOURNAL OF CELL BIOLOGY 9 VOLUME69, 1976 see what happens to the membrane of another ex- rotated around their long axis very rapidly but did not trusome, the trichocyst membrane of Paramecium change position. The cells were able to regain their caudatum, after trichocyst ejection. normal shape (see Results) after this irritation (Fig. 1 d). Single ceils were fixed at specific times after the Resting trichocysts are relatively large mem- application of the electric shock: 0, 5, 10, and 30 s. and 5, brane-bounded bodies having a diameter of 0.5 vm 10, 15, and 30 min. Control cells were fixed without the and a length of 3-4 vm. Their long axis is divided shock treatment. into a tip and a body; only the body undergoes a The cells were fixed at room temperature either with a transformation during discharge. There are some brief treatment in 0.1 M cacodylate-buffered 2% glutar- 6,000-8,000 trichocysts in each cell, and they are aldehyde (I min) followed by a longer time in 0.05 M regularly distributed within the cell's cortex, alter- collidine-buffered 2% glutaraldehyde (20 min) or with nating with single or paired basal bodies. Their only coUidine-buffered glutaraldehyde (20 min). The cells tips closely underlie the plasma membrane (Fig. were then washed in buffer and postfixed in collidine-buf- 21 a). fered 1.0% OsO4 for 45 min, washed again, and dehy- drated in increasing concentrations of ethanol. During An electric shock was used to trigger the ejection the last dehydration step 100% propylene oxide was used. of nearly all trichocysts within a single cell. The Downloaded from http://rupress.org/jcb/article-pdf/69/2/313/1387630/313.pdf by guest on 26 September 2021 The embedding medium was Epon 812. A Sorvall MT-II cells were then individually fixed at specific times ultramicrotome (DuPont Instruments, SorvaU Opera- after the shock and prepared for electron-micro- tions, Newtown, Conn.) and a diamond knife were used scope examination. to make the thin sections. The sections were picked up on Formvar-supported or unsupported grids, stained succes- MATERIALS AND METHODS sively in uranyl acetate (39) and lead citrate (32), and Paramecium caudatum was cultivated in hay infusion examined in a Hitachi HU-IIA electron microscope medium at room temperature. The triggering of the operated at 75 kV. trichocyst ejection was accomplished by a method devel- The method for the freeze-fracture technique will be oped by Wohlfarth-Bottermann (40) and modified by us described in detail in another paper (4). for our study. Single cells in small drops of culture medium (Fig. I a) were placed on microscope slides. RESULTS These cells were then irritated while being observed under The spindle trichocysts of Paramecium caudatum a dissection microscope. The irritation, lasting 1 3 s, was are advantageous organelles for the examination applied with two fine wire electrodes connected to a 3-5 of exocytic processes because of their large size V AC source (Fig 1 b).